


don't act like a stranger.

by LoudShrugging



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, future arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 17:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21480460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoudShrugging/pseuds/LoudShrugging
Summary: Late night conversations.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	don't act like a stranger.

“Gokudera-kun,” his boss’s voice is just barely above a whisper, “Are you awake?”

Gokudera can’t remember the last time he actually laid in a bed instead of spending the whole night slumped over his notes. His aching bones thank him, and creak in protest when he immediately sits up.

“You need something, Tenth?” He’s already halfway out of bed, the cold floor sending shockwaves through his feet. It’s nice, Gokudera thinks, chasing away some of the grogginess that began to set in moments earlier. Normally he’d be on his feet completely by now, eager and attentive; loudly professing his willingness to do anything for his boss. But tonight Gokudera’s a little too tired for that. He’ll make up for it later. 

“Nothing, nothing,” Tsuna replies quickly, “Don’t get out of bed.”

The reply turns him boneless. Gokudera lets himself flop backwards, back slamming heavily back into the small mattress. The frame of their bunk bed shakes.

“I couldn’t sleep and uh, I wanna talk.”

Talk.

They should talk. 

A little monster immediately hatches somewhere in his insides. Lodged firmly somewhere between his stomach and his lungs, it begins the arduous process of growing up. 

Gokudera’s mind is a storm of thoughts, immediately gathering everything from his past, present, and future and filing them away into separate mental compartments. He forms arguments, throws rebuttals at them, piles on response after response.

At some point, his mind has enough, because all the information spills over and his thought process halts. Gokudera can’t tell what’s worse: a mental space that’s too busy, filled with too many things; or the unending white noise of the blank slate it’s become now. It’s like the more he wracks his brain, the faster his mental gears rust. Soon, the only thing he manages to scrounge up is a big blank, blank,  _ blank. _

“Gokudera-kun?” Tsuna’s face appears in his peripherals but he can’t will his body to move. Gokudera realizes belatedly that his breathing has picked up, coming out in shallow puffs. He forces a shaky but deep inhale, counts to ten like Shamal showed him, and slowly lets it out. 

Breath goes in. Count to ten. Breath comes out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It might be relaxing if he didn’t feel like every cell in his body was trying to implode on itself. 

“I’m okay,” his voice is weaker than he intended, breath stolen by the monster chewing away at his insides. Managing to move, Gokudera pulls his leaden body up into a sitting position. His body feels like ice and he chases the warmth that lingers in his blanket. “What—” he wheezes for a second, regaining control over renegade lungs— “did you want to talk about?”

From his position above, his boss is frowning, concern painted plainly over his face. Gokudera mentally reprimands himself for his sudden loss of control. For letting three simple words crack open the floodgates he thought were firmly closed. 

Climbing down from the top bunk, the Tenth doesn’t ask before making him comfortable next to Gokudera on his bed, only hesitating for a moment before pulling part of his blanket over his knees. Secretly, Gokudera is grateful; if the Tenth had asked, he’d give it all to him. The blanket, the bed (and the world, if he could), make his new home on the floor with a happy mask over the soul rending gloom. 

Gokudera hasn’t missed the frowns and panicked looks he gets when he promises to move heaven and hell for his boss. The monster grows long enough to occupy a space at the base of his throat. Is it not enough? Is there more he could give? It makes his eyes water.

“I-It’s nothing bad,” Not for the first time, Gokudera thinks Tsuna is too good for this world. “It’s just that…” Tsuna looks down, finger tracing the side of his face in that way that means he’s carefully choosing his next words. 

He’ll save the Tenth that effort. Gokudera won’t fool himself; he knows what’s coming. Gokudera opens his mouth, fully intending to save his boss the trouble of delivering bad news. 

“Stop it.” 

Gokudera’s jaw shuts audibly, partly from surprise and partly because he is being commanded. It’s a tone he rarely hears outside of Tsuna’s Dying Will Mode. Resolute and unwavering, no room for an ounce of nonsense. Gokudera glances over, half expecting Tsuna’s sky flame to light, but their room remains in the relative dark.

“I really mean that Gokudera-kun,” Tsuna continues after after a short but tense silence. Gokudera’s lips press into an unhappy line. “I just— You should— You don’t have to keep acting for me and—” Tsuna bows his head, both hands coming up to run through his hair as he loses control of his words. 

Frustrated growls are all Gokudera hears for a second. Somewhere in there, he thinks he hears an angry huff of,  _ ‘This shouldn’t be so hard!’ _

He wouldn’t know. His brain is frozen over, his insides are all missing. Gokudera’s mouth is dry and is that his vision going? He might actually be dying. 

“Sorry… I made a mess of things again, huh.”

The voice next to him is so small. The room focuses and unfocuses when the bomber blinks.

Tsuna’s tone is self-depreciative, as it’s wont to be when he thinks he’s failed. 

A year ago, Tsuna might have just left it at that. Can’t hurt anyone with words when you don’t say anything in the first place, right? A year ago, Tsuna would’ve been too timid and awkward to even think about bringing the issue to light. Grin and bear it, he used to tell himself.  _ Grin and bear it. _

Tonight, he laughs a little, takes a deep breath, loosens himself from the tight knot he’s curled himself into. 

Gokudera flinches when Tsuna reaches over to put Gokudera’s cold, clammy hand in between both of his. If he noticed, he doesn’t react. The contrast in their temperatures engulfs his one extremity with warmth. 

“We’re friends right?”

Gokudera can feel himself nodding woodenly. 

“Friends,” Tsuna repeats resolutely, “You’re not my subordinate, you’re my friend. If I become the Tenth boss of Vongola —” which he is not, but that’s beside the point — “I’m gonna be making a lot of changes. We’re not going to be like the other mafia, so you won’t be my subordinate. You don’t have to keep treating me like I’m some kind of royalty.

“Especially not you. You’re my first friend, Gokudera-kun, you should act more like it. You can still be my right hand man, but don’t be so formal. Call me Tsuna and laugh at me trip over my own two feet and all that.” 

Okay, maybe not the best example but it gets the point across. 

Running out of things to say, Tsuna lets his body sag and some of the tension ebbs away. Gokudera’s hand is warmer now; Tsuna tucks it away under their shared blanket hoping the heat would be retained. The bomber remains frozen in place. 

Tsuna wonders if this constitutes as an emergency he should wake the base over or if he should crawl back up to his bunk to let Gokudera contemplate his words. Probably the latter. He glances at the digital clock on their bedside table. 1:48 AM. Definitely the latter. 

“That’s uh, all I wanted to say. Thanks for listening.” He forces a smile, suppresses a grimace when his heavy limbs protest as Tsuna eases himself off Gokudera's warm bed and reaches for the top one. “Good night, G—”

“Hayato.”

Warmth floods Tsuna’s chest immediately. His face cracks into a giant grin that he hopes Gokudera — Hayato— can see in the darkness. Tsuna’s half tempted to dive back into Hayato’s bunk — maybe call Yamamoto over too — and stay up all night like a group of normal teenagers having a normal sleepover in a normal world.

But they still have training tomorrow and the next day and every day forever until they make it out of the hellish future.

“Good night, Hayato-kun.” 

“Sleep well, Tsuna-sama!”

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted them to have this conversation at some point


End file.
